Local man arrested after overnight pursuit

A Shawnee man was jailed and a 17-year-old girl was taken into police custody after an attempted traffic stop turned into a 74 mph police pursuit through local neighborhoods overnight.

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By Kim Morava

The Shawnee News-Star

By Kim Morava

Posted Aug. 29, 2013 at 9:00 AM

By Kim Morava

Posted Aug. 29, 2013 at 9:00 AM

A Shawnee man was jailed and a 17-year-old girl was taken into police custody after an attempted traffic stop turned into a 74 mph police pursuit through local neighborhoods overnight.

Nicholas Adam Blanchard, 31, was arrested Wednesday morning on complaints of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of controlled dangerous substance, resisting an officer, eluding an officer, driving under suspension, failure to stop at a stop sign, possession of marijuana along with an outstanding felony warrant.

Blanchard was booked into the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center, where he remained jailed Wednesday on $10,000 bond; formal charges have not been filed.

In addition, Blanchard also is being held without bond on a Hughes County felony warrant for trafficking in illegal drugs, court records show.

Blanchard was arrested after a series of events that began when Shawnee Police Officer Richard Ruiz attempted to stop a Hyundai Sonata on Ninth Street near Harrison just after 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

The driver, later identified as Blanchard, allegedly didn’t stop at a stop sign and then accelerated to turn eastbound onto Buck Drive from Harrison Street when the officer initiated his flashing emergency lights. While pursuing the vehicle, the officer noted the driver was going about 74 mph through the residential area.

As the pursuit reached the 1800 block of East Farrall, the driver crossed into the oncoming lanes of traffic and stopped the vehicle, the officer noted. Blanchard and a teenage passenger exited the vehicle and ran northbound.

Ruiz, noting what the driver was wearing, pursued him on foot and caught up with the suspect in a yard in the 1800 block of East Farrall. The report shows Blanchard allegedly turned to the officer with both hands in his pockets, prompting the officer to pull out his taser and order the suspect to stop and not move.

“Blanchard then got into an aggressive stance, pulling out his right hand from his pocket in a sudden motion at me,” the report reads, so Ruiz deployed the non-lethal taser at the suspect.

The probes from the taser didn’t properly stick, so Blanchard disconnected the taser and approached the officer in an aggressive nature, “with his hands balled up in fists,” the report shows.

The officer attempted to drive stun the suspect with the taser but he fled northbound and jumped a metal fence. That’s when the officer observed the female passenger with a pink purse hiding next to a house. She was detained by police.

Other officers arrived in the search for Blanchard, who was seen running into a house on East Walnut Street. The home’s occupants allowed police to enter and Blanchard was taken into custody.

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The vehicle, which was believed to be stolen but hadn’t yet been reported as such, was impounded. Police found a syringe and Blanchard’s ID card. Rifle and handgun rounds also were found in the trunk, reports show.

The 17-year-old told police that Blanchard held a knife to her and told her to put several items in her purse, then threatened to harm her unless she exited the vehicle and ran with him. A passenger who stayed in the back seat throughout the ordeal was released at the scene.

Police found drug-related paraphernalia in the vehicle as well as drug-related items in the teen’s purse, including residue that tested positive for methamphetamine, the report shows, and some marijuana. The teen was taken to police headquarters and was later released to her mother with a signed promise to appear in court, the report shows.

The case will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for consideration of any formal charges.

Court records show Blanchard previously time in prison with the Department of Corrections on stolen property and other assault charges, including assault and battery on a police officer, larceny of an automobile and use of a vehicle to discharge a weapon.